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Nope. I was just saying that there was no major leap. XP still crashes, though considerably less. Number of crashes can often be attributed to 3rd party software use, so there's always that to keep in mind. It seems like XP have handle programs crashing a bit better. I like the CTRL ALT DEL system much better in XP, too. I just don't think that switching to XP would have been the right thing to do in this case.

I wouldn't go so far as to call it a miracle though. Still riddled with MS surprises for you when you least expect them (I wont bother listing any instances off, but they're there.) I still have problems with using windows because it's trying to tell me what to do- like you said, it blaming the crash on you!

Quote[/b] (scottychaos @ Aug. 24 2006,12:13)]I had a 98 machine for many years..
was mostly stable, but would lock-up once in awhile..
just freeze solid, whatever was on the screen would just stay there frozen..mouse or keyboard had no effect..
had to unplug it to reboot..
(and then on the re-boot windows would always give you hat hilarious message about "windows was not shut down properly, make sure you shut down the machine properly you moron"..like it was MY fault! )

That's exactly what would happen for me. But this time, it was taken further. It locked up again this morning, but not with that Boot Error thing. And then I did a Disk Cleanup, a thorough Scandisk, and a Defrag. Been awhile.

(and then on the re-boot windows would always give you hat hilarious message about "windows was not shut down properly, make sure you shut down the machine properly you moron"..like it was MY fault! )

That message has always irratated the H... out of me. It's one of the few times I actually fell like punching something...like maybe the airheaded dork that put that cutesy message in the program in the first place...

I was in the local Wal Mart today and they had the Windows XP upgrade for the Win98 OS. Has anybody had experience with it and would it be better to get the full Windows XP OS instead? When XP first came out it had a lot of problems being installed over Win98 as opposed to being a clean install by itself. I am wondering if this still holds true and if it applies to the upgrade version.

Quote[/b] (BigCarnivourKid @ Aug. 26 2006,12:13)]That message has always irratated the H... out of me. It's one of the few times I actually fell like punching something...like maybe the airheaded dork that put that cutesy message in the program in the first place...

I was in the local Wal Mart today and they had the Windows XP upgrade for the Win98 OS. Has anybody had experience with it and would it be better to get the full Windows XP OS instead? When XP first came out it had a lot of problems being installed over Win98 as opposed to being a clean install by itself. I am wondering if this still holds true and if it applies to the upgrade version.

"Strike any key to continue". And the single panelled cartoon showing a guy with a pickaxe (or something to that effect) poised over the computer.

I wouldn't expect much from an XP upgrade on already buggy 98 installation.

In this case the ideal installation is a clean XP installation. The next ideal installation is an XP upgrade on a fresh, unused 98 installation. And the last on the list is an XP upgrade on a worn out, buggy 98 installation that's been used for years already.

Windows is kind of like a dying animal. It hides its symptoms until the bitter end. The longer it's installed and used the closer it is to failure, even if it doesn't show it outwardly. And I just wouldn't trust that none of those "symptoms" will get carried over in the upgrade.

So if you want to save money you could go with the XP upgrade. But I would suggest wiping the computer first, installing 98 fresh, and then doing the upgrade.

Quote[/b] (endparenthesis @ Aug. 26 2006,12:09)]The longer it's installed and used the closer it is to failure, even if it doesn't show it outwardly. And I just wouldn't trust that none of those "symptoms" will get carried over in the upgrade.

So if you want to save money you could go with the XP upgrade. But I would suggest wiping the computer first, installing 98 fresh, and then doing the upgrade.

OK, I suspected as much myself, but wanted a second opinion. The idea of formatting the drive and spending a couple days of reloading drivers and tweaking the OS doesn't hold much appeal to me these days though. If I'm going to have to do a clean install of Win98 and then load XP, I might as well just install XP to begin with and save some hassle.

It always seems like a nightmare, but every time I've wiped it's always been easier to recover than I thought it would be. Multiple hard drives make things enormously easier... I'll never go back to a single one.